When our shadows are taller than our soul…
By Art Harun
Has this government lost any kind of ability to treat the people with at least some common decency? Has this government no ability to acknowledge the existence of human dignity, some very basic form of rights which the people, as human beings, naturally possess?
“And as we wind on down the road,
Our shadows taller than our soul”
Robert Plant: Stairway to Heaven
When our shadows are taller than our soul, at the end of it, we would be consumed with fear. Just as we are nearing death, and we realise that our sins have far outdone our good deeds, we would be consumed with nothing but fear of the judgment day.
That is only to be expected. That is just a part of being a mortal human being.
When I learned about the arrest of about 30 people who attended an anti-ISA candle light vigil at Amcorp Mall last night, the first thought which came through my mind was, why is this government so afraid of the people it wishes to govern?
It is like this government is bereft of any moral standing to govern. Like it fears any kind of expression of feelings by the people. Like it fears any show or display of whatever which may teeny wee bit resembles an opposing opinion or stand.
No wonder even cartoon books lampooning the administration has been banned. Not long ago, even t-shirts bearing some depictions of funny cartoons and logos were seized in Central Market just because they “offend” the powers that be.
I ask on Twitter, when will this government ever respect the people’s constitutional rights to assemble peacefully and to express their opinion and themselves peacefully? When?
Why must the peaceful people of Malaysia, who just wish to express their stand against a totally archaic law, which has been abused again and again and again, in a totally peaceful manner be met with riot police, swarming and bearing on them with baton and riot gear?
